Women just want to have fun. So how are event organisers keeping them safe?

DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small brought amapiano’s biggest hits to FNB Stadium, with about 70 000 people attending Scorpion Kings’ sold-out concert last week. The expected highlights included tributes to late artists such as AKA, Mpura and Costa Titch.

Behind the music, organisers were also trying to solve a problem that has become part of the experience of being a woman at a major event: getting home safely.

The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, Stadium Management South Africa, SAPS, Gauteng Traffic Police and emergency services put additional measures in place, including dedicated transport for women, 85 additional security guards and patrol vehicles intended to identify women who were alone and move them away from isolated walkways to safer areas.

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said: “A young woman who comes to enjoy a concert should not have to gamble with her safety to get home.”

Safety doesn’t start when the music stops

The Scorpion Kings concert is not the only event where organisers have thought about what happens beyond the main stage. Poetry on the Lawn (POTL), a live poetry and music event series, has also made transport part of its event planning; its JHB edition happens this Saturday at The Fortress Venue in Edenvale, Johannesburg.

The organisers have arranged shuttle options for different city editions, with safety, particularly for women, as a key consideration behind the transport arrangements. That approach tackles a problem that can easily be overlooked when people talk about event security.

Getting people safely inside a venue is one thing. Getting throngs of people out of it at the same time is another. When an event ends, everyone suddenly needs to leave.

Crowds move toward parking areas, people look for friends, ride-hailing vehicles arrive and depart, public transport arrives, and long stretches of road or pavement stretch out before people get home. But safety does not look the same at every event. Some organisers are thinking about transport. Others are creating spaces where people can seek help if something goes wrong.

At Afrikaburn, there is somewhere to go when things go wrong

Afrikaburn takes place in a very different environment from a stadium concert. The event is a community gathering built around art, costumes, music and performances, but it also has dedicated structures for people who need assistance.

Its Sanctuary provides a space for people experiencing emotional distress, relationship problems or feeling overwhelmed. Mental-health professionals and social workers are available, while volunteer Rangers help people who are lost or need assistance.

Participants are also advised to write their identification numbers under their wristbands so staff can identify them in an emergency. It is a different way of thinking about safety. The question isn’t only “How do we stop something from happening?” It is also “What happens when something does?”

Someone might be overwhelmed by a crowd. Someone might become separated from their friends. Someone might become intoxicated. Someone might be distressed or simply realise they don’t know how to get home. Having somewhere to go and people who know what to do can make the difference.

Sometimes safety looks like pancakes

Then there is Red Frogs South Africa, a support programme working with young people in alcohol-fuelled environments. The organisation works at festivals and major events around South Africa and says it supports more than 50 000 patrons a year. Its approach is deliberately less intimidating than traditional security.

Red Frogs provides hydration stations, chill-out areas and free pancakes and sweets. Teams also move around event grounds looking for situations that could become problems before they turn into emergencies.

The organisation’s model is based on harm reduction, recognising that people will drink, party, and have fun, and trying to make those environments safer rather than pretending risky behaviour will not happen.

Then there are events designed around women

Rosefest approaches the question differently because its audience is women. The women-only music festival and empowerment platform was founded by singer Shekhinah and focuses on female artists and gender inequality in the music industry.

Its safety planning includes a free shuttle between overflow parking and the festival, plus partnerships with organisations such as Lifeline South Africa on gender-based violence and mental health. Here, safety is not simply something added to an event. It is built into the event’s design.

Are women actually asking for this?

The Scorpion Kings concert responded to concerns around women’s safety. Poetry on the Lawn provides transport. Afrikaburn has a broader support structure for people in distress. Red Frogs focuses on harm reduction. Rosefest builds safety into a women-focused event.

What connects them is not necessarily a new trend. It is a growing recognition that safety can mean more than security guards at the gate. Maybe audiences are beginning to expect organisers to think about the entire experience, including the journey home.

When a woman decides whether to attend a concert, festival, or cultural event, the calculation can start long before she buys the ticket. She is planning her night around the possibility that something could go wrong. That does not mean organisers can eliminate every danger.

They cannot control every road outside a venue, every ride-hailing driver, every stranger in a crowd or everything that happens once an attendee leaves the event.

The journey home is part of the event

The Scorpion Kings concert showed what happens when organisers deliberately add measures aimed at women. Other events show several ways to approach the same problem.

No one model is likely to become the standard across South Africa. But as women continue to raise concerns about their safety in public spaces, event organisers have an opportunity to listen before they are forced to respond to another tragedy.

An event should not be considered successful simply because everyone got through the gates, the artist performed, and the crowd went home happy. For some attendees, the real measure of a good night is much simpler: they got home safely.